Slideshow: Engineering the Perfect Crime

Engineering is generally regarded as a profession of integrity. There are, however, exceptions. Every year, a handful of engineers end up on the wrong side of the law, for offenses ranging from trade secret theft and spying to computer hacking and bank robbery. Because they’re a clever bunch, engineers tend to gravitate toward intellectual crimes, but a few have been known to cross over into violence, ranging from assault to murder.

We’ve collected photos of some of engineering’s best-known offenders. From cloak-and-dagger spies to passionate pepper sprayers, we present some of the most notable, and strangest, of engineering’s malefactors.

Click on the photo below to start the slideshow.

Nearly 30 years after shooting four men who he thought were trying to mug him on a New York subway, Bernhard Goetz’s name is still remembered internationally. Goetz, who held a B.S. degree in electrical and nuclear engineering from New York University, was acquitted of attempted murder and first degree assault charges, but was convicted of criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree. (Source: Google Images/Time.com)

On the other hand...I know a full professor of engineering mechanics (I won't name the university), who never tinkered with anything, is completely incapable of fixing the simplest mechanisms and yet has a Ph.D. in engineering and is now a Fellow in a prestigious engineering association.

Thinking outside the bix. What box ?
Sorry for dragging this thread off track, but one Dilbert strip: our hero,, as a child, is diagnosed as "being an engineer". In the time that it takes the doctor to tell the parents, Dilbert has fixed the water cooler.

sbkenn, i totally agree with you engineers are not produced or manufactured they are born . Engineers usually think out of the box and no one can force a person to be an engineer due to preasure he may study hard but he cannot creat the qualities of good engineer that are god gifted . Everyone cant be a good engineer just hard work cant make someone a good engineer to be a good engineer engineering should be inside you . You should be creative you should have different physique, should think out of the box .

One example. My daughter, now 20 and finished 2nd year as a science student aiming for environmentsl zooñogy. When she was 4, she saw a road barrier, the loose end of which was resting on the ground. She proceeded to describe a better way, ibvolving a cunterweight and sliding barrier só that when open, it would balance, but when closed, some weight would rest on the cradle. She may have transferred the principle from a seesaw(teeter totter to americans i think) where i had rigged a sliding balance weight for different sized kids. She has done almost no tinkering, but frequently shows that she understands mechanisms

I'm not sure where I ultimately come down on the "nature versus nurture" issue. Most of the mechanical and electrical engineers I've known have had long histories, starting back when they were kids, of taking things apart and figuring out how they worked. On the other hand, some of the systems, industrial and structural engineers I've known seemed to fall into their professions because they were good at math and science, and didn't seem to have a history of working on their cars or tinkering.

I have to disagree on one point. I believe that most engineers are born, not produced by a decent education. It is more to do with the way our mind works, understanding the fundamentals and applying them to find solutions. Education teaches us the maths involved, conventions which allow ithers to understand the work of others, the standards which industry requires etc, but the core of the individual has to be right to start with. I have come across degree qualified people who could calculate a factor to the n'th decimal point on something that they were familiar with, but present the same thing in a different way, and they are stumped.

I guess this article lends support to the thought that engineers as a group are probably no less affected by mental illness and bad judgment calls than the general populace. I once worked with an engineer that would take his teddy bear to work to sooth himself when he was depressed. Someone should do thoose numbers to see whether there is in fact a difference. It should however take into account whether there is a difference between true engineers that live and breathe their profession and those that fell into the job not knowing what else to do.

In general, I think engineers are a pretty law-abiding bunch, Debera. I had a hard time tracking down wayward engineers for this column. I like the comment made by bobjengr below: "...the engineering profession has one fatal flaw -- it has to take its practioners from the human race."

Earlier this year paralyzed IndyCar drive Sam Schmidt did the seemingly impossible -- opening the qualifying rounds at Indy by driving a modified Corvette C7 Stingray around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

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